Consequence
by anakin-s0l0
Summary: A story invloving Anakin Skywalker and Evan Zion, set during year two of the Clone Wars. Two friends re-discover themselves.


Consequence  
A Clone Wars Novel  
  
By Paul Larn  
  
* Before you read this story it is important to note that my character Evan is in a lot of ways similar and un-similar to anakin (skywalker), I love writing anakin so I wanted to have a lot of the qualities he has in Evan. Anakin will feature heavily in the story, but not in this chapter. The time setting is what I hope to be about 4 months after Jedi Trial, two years into the clone wars.  
  
Chapter One  
  
Evan Zion, jedi knight, kneeled down in the soft black earth, his weight making him sink into the surface ever so slightly, but the ground was stable enough, and rather comfortable for the moment. He looked around the dark and brooding cave, with barely just enough light seeping through the various cracks in the roof so that he could see his own form, and luckily he thought to himself, that the cave descended on entrance, effectively hiding him from view from any passing enemy, at least for now anyway. He had been forced to enter the cave after leaving the base through the drainage systems and making a break for it over the perimeter fence and then through the patchy surrounding forest area, which he guessed was now roughly five hundred meters from the base entrance. For every loud explosion that vibrated through the ground, he knew that more battle droids and separatist occupational personnel were landing on planet, it clearly seemed to him that they had come to capture this base, and not just destroy it. Otherwise everyone here would most likely be dead now. A thin layer of chalky white dust seemed to fall constantly inside the cave, just like the light snowfall outside, coating his already matted and tangled hair, which he swept back behind his ears in order to stop it obstructing his eyesight. He knew that he didn't have much time now to make a move, and he wondered just how long it would be before this whole cave collapsed in on him, or worse, they dropped a missile directly in his lap.  
  
"Stay calm...." Evan tried to tell himself, he stretched out through the force but felt hesitant to do so fully because of the growing feeling of despair and indecision he felt seeping into his being, a dangerous state of mind to be in when using the force he knew. How could all this have happened so quickly? There had been no warning other than a planetary proximity alert when two trade federation star ships had pulled out from hyperspace, to little too late he thought to himself. That seemed to be the subtitle theme to the Republic now days. The base had been caught up in a flurry of panic, and the last group of remaining clone troopers and he had been forced to escape to an emergency transport, which according to the base security records, was hidden in the more dense part of the surrounding forest area, but already he found himself split from the troopers, and he had no definitive way of knowing whether they were dead or alive. The attack on Mykr had been devastating and totally unexpected. Had anyone managed to get a call for help or assistance off-planet? He truly had no way of knowing, but what he did know was that it was his duty as a jedi knight to leave the planet and get immediate word to the jedi council of what had happened here, but what was his duty to her? To leave her here, and risk whatever may become? He suspected Count Dooku himself was here right now on this planet, and even if he returned to the base and managed to get back inside, would he be able to find her and get her out safely? Evan could not stand the thought of leaving her here, but how would he explain his actions to the jedi council if he were to rescue her? He understood that he was walking a dangerous path in this relationship, but he accepted the risk and understood the rules of consequence, if there is truly only one life that we live, he decided he would have any desire to live it any other way, as a jedi or not.  
  
All of a sudden, Evan was snapped out of his despairing thoughts by the comlink on his belt, it chimed with the emergency tone, and a familiar sounding voice mixed with static and the sound of heavy blaster fire spoke,  
  
"Master Zion, do you copy..? Please advise of your position, we have managed to reach the emergency transport and are under attack at the port side rear, we cannot risk damage to any of the navigational systems or we will be trapped."  
  
Evan sighed to himself and dropped his head, he knew that he would do his duty and leave the planet, but if something were to happen to her... what would become of him? He dug his hands into the ground, digging a makeshift hole in the soft dirt large enough to conceal the lightsaber that he unclipped from his belt. He placed the weapon into the hole and re-covered it. He closed his eyes and breathed the words very silently, trying to find her presence through the force, "I wont let you die here..." When, not if, he comes back for her, he promised himself he would come and retrieve the lightsaber first, if he did not, he knew that the two most important things in his life would be gone, and that meant he would already be dead.  
  
Evan needed only to lower his head slightly to stand in the cave, he stretched his legs again and straightened the long dark brown jedi robe he was wearing, reaching down to his utility belt, he unclipped the jedi issue comlink,  
  
"Trooper, this is Jedi Evan Zion, please state your exact position, over."  
  
The comlink burst in static for a couple of seconds before the familiar cloned voice, which Evan thought contained the slightest hint of relief, replied,  
  
"Master Zion, this is squad leader BR-17, it's good to hear your voice sir! We are fourteen degrees north-east, two-hundred-sixteen meters from your current transmission position, do you copy?"  
  
Evan closed his eyes and stretched out through the force to gain his bearing again, and tried to search out the best route through the patchy forest area to where the transport was hidden. It was not going to be easy unarmed. The force swirled here with the emotions of battle, the death, the destruction, he could only describe the sensation as what he thought must be some sort of dark-side energy field, waiting to be tapped into. He stretched out to her again... but couldn't sense anything. Frustrated, but reminding himself to stay calm, he clicked the comlink,  
  
"BR-17, have your men fall back and board the transport, prepare the ship for take-off on my signal and leave the boarding ramp open for when I approach, I will be coming in unarmed so watch for my position and try to lay as much covering fire down for me as possible without risking your own lives." More static...  
  
"Copy sir, I insist on despatching two troopers to move towards your current position and assist you, please stay..." Evan cut him off in mid- sentence.  
  
"Negative BR-17, do not send any of your group outside of the transport once you board, they will not make it half way to me, await my approach only." He thumbed off his comlink.  
  
Evan silently prepared himself through the force for the gauntlet of battle droids and what else between him and the transport. He did not consider himself a warrior, especially without his lightsaber, but the only way he had a chance of getting back to her was to get to that transport and make it off planet. He let the force strengthen his determination when he tapped into the despair he felt, it was like a fuel injection, this worried him a little, but right now he needed every resource available to him, nothing else mattered while he was on this planet.  
  
He moved along the far left side of the damp and coarse cave wall, silently trying to move into a position where he would be able to peer up and over the elevated entrance, standing was definitely to risky right now, he would have to crawl along the gravely ground in order to stay out of sight from any enemy on the outside. He thought to himself that it was best to play it safe until he knew the situation out there. As he slowly crawled along the sharp stoned gravel floor, he froze suddenly as an unnatural and metallic sounding robotic voice came into hearing,  
  
"The sensor is detecting one above average heat reading in this en-cave, looks like it could be a life-form."  
  
Another robotic voice started, this one speaking with more authority, "Send two units in, we are under strict instructions to take prisoners, so do not blast to kill lieutenant"  
  
"Understood sir, what if it is the missing jedi?"  
  
Now this was interesting, Evan thought to himself. Obviously someone had talked about his posting here at the base, or worse, they already knew he was here.  
  
The voice with authority spoke again, in a sharper tone this time. "You have your orders, do you not? You are to take prisoners only, whether jedi or trooper."  
  
"Understood sir, units one & two, move forward!"  
  
This was it now, there would only be moments before they had him in sight, the force was with him, and it was time to move forward. Evan exploded into the air about five meters away from the nearest two droid's, in what seemed like a fraction of a second he counted seven enemies in and around the cave entrance, he reached out with the force and unleashed a powerful wave of energy that swept away the two flanking droid's like dust particles, and smashed them through the metal forms of another three droid's standing on guard outside the entrance. Evan sprinted side to side through the cave entrance, dodging a number of ricocheting blaster bolts, and flat foot kicked the head directly from the shoulders of the startled battle droid in front of him, spun in a half turn to his left and kicked the blaster from the next droid's grasp and force pushed the droid powerfully against a sharp rock point. The droid shattered into a dozen pieces. Evan moved around to the left side of the cave's outer rock formation, controlling his breathing and scanning the area for any hidden surprises. In this position he was directly out of line of any blaster fire, for now anyway.  
  
Evan was full of the force as he gained sight of the transport ahead and to the left. In the seconds that he had connected more potently with the force in battle, he had reached a heightened status with his emotions, the determination, at least that's what he thought it was, that he was fighting with had helped him find her. Evan knew she was alive now, he felt the slightest sensation through the force when he left the cave, it wasn't much, but it was enough to give him faith enough to carry on, so that he could return here again. He reminded himself to concentrate; this was far from over yet.  
  
Evan had moved silently forward with much greater ease thanks to the thick patch of forest in front of the now visible transport. The trees on Mykr were hundreds of years old, and they seemed to be so tall and dense that he sometimes wondered if you could touch the sky when you climbed one. The now heavy snowfall had also become an ally to him as it seemed that it was causing trouble for the droid army's sensor relays, because the group of nine visible droid's positioned behind a field operating force-field in front of him did not seem to be aware of his position, unless they were planning to attack when he made his move, either way he thought, it made no difference to him. He clicked him comlink four times in succession, and just as instructed the transport's engines suddenly flared to life with a loud stutter start, and instantly following that, a heavier barrage of blaster bolts rained onto the droid's from the landing ramp of the transport. Time to move.  
  
With little time Evan guessed, before reinforcements arrived, and no room for error being so close to the ship, he reached out with the force and broke a large solid trunk from the giant tree towering over the droid's, with his manipulation the trunk fell and completely crushed five of the droid's to the floor, this served as distraction enough for him to move around the left side and sprint to the ship, he took one last droid out from behind and made his dash to the transport, the force strengthened his strides and pumped blood faster around his tired body, the world around him seemed to slow for those seconds, he was moving in a blurred motion and he could see and hear the blaster bolts being fired in both directions all around him. He reached the edge of the landing ramp and dived into a forward roll through the closing blast door, but not before he felt a stinging pain slice across his left arm, a burning sensation that he knew without previous experience was a blaster bolt. The ramp raised and the door sealed behind the frantic backdrop, Evan collapsed into an exhausted heap on the gantry floor.  
  
"Master Zion, do you awaken?" Evan heard the droid voice vibrate through his sore head, and he slowly fluttered open his eyes to an intensely bright room and the oblong shaped head of an almost ancient republic Z-4 medical droid. He was in the medical bay. Something must have really rattled him to lose consciousness, he remembered...  
  
"Your left arm above your elbow was grazed by a high velocity blaster bolt Master Zion, I administered an anti-biotic on the scene which may have caused your drowsiness, there is also a strong anti-burn med-patch applied to your left...."  
  
"No, take it off!" Evan sat up and ripped the med-patch off of his arm, he looked at the exposed pink and vibrant red flesh, he would have a four or so inch scar if he did not heal the wound with a jedi trance and a strong med-patch, but he had no intention of doing that. Better that he left this planet with something to remind him of what had happened, to remind him of the choice he made to leave. The scar would heal when he had her back. When he had fixed what had been broken. He dismissed the med-droid and decided to get some much-needed rest. Soon, he would not be resting for quite a while. 


End file.
